JP4687317B2 - Vehicle body structure - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle body structure of a vehicle, and more particularly to a structure related to a strut tower bar that reinforces a strut tower.

  In order to improve the handling stability of the vehicle, it has been conventionally practiced to reinforce the strut tower with a strut tower bar. The strut tower bar is not only a cross bar that suppresses displacement of the strut tower in the vehicle width direction by connecting the strut towers in the vehicle width direction, but also connects the strut tower and the dash panel in the vehicle longitudinal direction of the strut tower. The thing provided with the side bar which suppresses a displacement is also proposed (for example, patent document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-138952

  However, the sidebar has the advantage of suppressing the displacement of the strut tower in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, but if an excessive load is input in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle due to the frontal collision of the vehicle, it breaks through the dash panel and enters the cabin. There is a risk of doing.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to prevent the strut tower bar from entering the passenger compartment while improving the steering stability of the vehicle.

According to the present invention, each upper part of each suspension device for respectively suspending the left and right wheels is fixed, the left and right strut towers, and the panel member extending in the vehicle width direction on the vehicle compartment side than the strut towers, A vehicle body structure including a strut tower bar that connects the left and right strut towers and connects the left and right strut towers and the panel member, wherein the strut tower bar extends in the vehicle width direction. And a pair of side bar members extending from the left and right strut towers to the panel member, respectively, and the side bar member is weaker in strength against the input of a load in the vehicle longitudinal direction than other parts. And extending from the fragile portion to the front in the vehicle front-rear direction inclining outward in the vehicle width direction before being connected to the strut tower A rear portion connected to the panel member and extending from the fragile portion to the vehicle longitudinal direction rearward in the vehicle front-rear direction, and connected to the panel member. There is provided a vehicle body structure that is disposed on a room side and connects the weak portions .

In the vehicle body structure of the vehicle of the present invention, by providing the fragile portion, when an excessive load is input in the vehicle front-rear direction, the side bar member bends or breaks at the fragile portion, and the side bar member A situation of breaking through the panel member can be prevented. In addition, since the strut tower bar includes the cross bar member and the side bar member, it is possible to suppress displacement of the strut tower in both the vehicle width direction and the vehicle front-rear direction, thereby improving steering stability. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the strut tower bar from entering the cabin while improving the steering stability of the vehicle. In addition, since the crossbar member connects the fragile portions, stress concentration on the fragile portion can be promoted, and the crossbar member is disposed closer to the vehicle compartment side than the strut tower. Thus, an installation space for the in-vehicle auxiliary machine can be secured inside the strut tower. Further, the crossbar does not get in the way during maintenance of the in-vehicle auxiliary equipment.

  In the present invention, it is possible to adopt a configuration in which the fragile portion is a bent portion formed by bending the side bar member. According to this configuration, the fragile portion can be formed with a simple configuration in which the sidebar member is bent.

In the present invention, among the side bar members, an angle formed by the front portion with the vehicle front-rear direction in a plan view or a side view is larger than an angle formed by the rear portion with the vehicle front-rear direction in a plan view or a side view. Large configuration can be adopted. According to this configuration, it is possible to promote stress concentration on the bent portion, which is the fragile portion, and to make the bent portion more fragile.

Further, Oite the present invention can be employed to connect the respective ends of the panel member side of said side bars of a pair, comprising a reinforcing member coupled to the panel member structure.

According to this structure , a pair of the side bar member, the reinforcing member, and the cross are excluded from the side bar member except for a tower side portion that extends from the end portion on the strut tower side to the connecting portion with the cross bar member. A closed frame is formed by the bar member. For this reason, the tower side portion becomes relatively weaker than the frame body portion, and when an excessive load is input in the vehicle front-rear direction, the side bar member bends or breaks at the tower side portion, and the side A situation where the bar member breaks through the panel member can be prevented .

Moreover, in this invention, the structure by which vehicle-mounted auxiliary machinery is arrange | positioned adjacent to the said crossbar member inside the vehicle width direction of the said strut tower is employable. According to this configuration, the crossbar does not get in the way during maintenance of the on-vehicle auxiliary machine.
Moreover, in this invention, the structure which provided the bracket which connects the said crossbar member, the said front part, and the said back part in the said weak part can be employ | adopted.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the strut tower bar from entering the cabin while improving the steering stability of the vehicle.

<Configuration>
FIG. 1A is a plan view of a vehicle body structure A of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view of an essential part taken along line XX in FIG. The vehicle body structure A is a vehicle body structure that forms an engine room formed in the front portion of the vehicle, and includes a dash panel 1 that partitions the engine room and the cabin, a pair of front side frames 2 that are separated in the vehicle width direction, And a radiator support member 3 that supports the radiator. An apron member 4 is disposed above each front side frame 2, and a panel constituting a side wall from the apron member 4 to the front side frame 2 swells to the engine room side and accommodates left and right front wheels. A wheel house 5 is formed.

  Each wheel house 5 is formed with left and right strut towers 6 to which upper portions of unillustrated suspension devices (struts) for respectively suspending left and right front wheels are fixed. The dash panel 1 constitutes a panel member that extends in the vehicle width direction on the vehicle compartment side of the strut tower 6. A strut tower bar 10 is provided between the left and right strut towers 6 and between the strut tower 6 and the dash panel 1. The strut tower bar 10 connects the left and right strut towers 6 and connects the left and right strut towers 6 and the dash panel 1 via the reinforcing member 20. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the strut tower bar 10 and the reinforcing member 20.

  The strut tower bar 10 includes a cross bar member 11 extending in the vehicle width direction and a pair of side bar members 12a and 12b extending from the left and right strut towers 6 to the dash panel 1 (hereinafter collectively referred to as side bar members 12). And). Due to the presence of the crossbar member 11, the displacement of the strut tower 6 in the vehicle width direction is suppressed. Further, due to the presence of the side bar member 12, the displacement of the strut tower 6 in the vehicle front-rear direction is suppressed. That is, since the displacement of the strut tower 6 in both the vehicle width direction and the vehicle front-rear direction can be suppressed, steering stability is improved.

  In the present embodiment, both the crossbar member 11 and the sidebar member 12 are formed of a tubular member, and the crossbar member 11 is linear. The side bar member 12 has bent portions 121a and 121b, and is bent at the bent portions 121a and 121b (hereinafter collectively referred to as the bent portion 121) to form a "he" shape. The bent portion 121 constitutes a fragile portion to be described later.

  Of the sidebar member 12, portions 122a and 122b (hereinafter referred to collectively as the portion 122) from the bent portion 121 to the end portion on the reinforcing member 20 side are substantially horizontal (as shown in FIG. 1B). As shown in FIG. 1B, portions 123a and 123b (hereinafter, collectively referred to as portion 123) extending in the vehicle front-rear direction in a side view and extending from the bent portion 121 to the end on the strut tower 6 side are referred to. It extends in a direction inclined downward and forward. Each end of the portions 122a and 122b is flattened into an oval shape to form an attachment portion with the reinforcing member 20, and two attachment holes are formed respectively. The ends of the portions 123a and 123b are welded to the connecting brackets 13a and 13b, respectively, and are bolted to the left and right strut towers 6 via the connecting brackets 13a and 13b.

  In the present embodiment, the crossbar member 11 is disposed closer to the passenger compartment side (dash panel 1 side) than the strut tower 6 as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, and the sidebar members 12 are bent. It arrange | positions on the line | wire which connects the bending parts 121a and 121b so that the parts 121a and 121b may be connected. The cross bar member 11 and each side bar member 12 are connected to each other by welding them to the connecting brackets 14a and 14b branched into three branches. In FIG. 2, the connecting bracket 14b is shown in a partially cutaway view. The connecting brackets 14a and 14b have a hat shape in which the lower half is opened. The connecting brackets 14a and 14b are attached to and welded to the crossbar member 11 and the sidebar members 12.

  The reinforcing member 20 includes a mounting portion 21 that extends substantially horizontally and two mounting portions 22 that extend substantially vertically. The mounting portion 21 is provided with two sets of two holes 21a for fastening the end portions of the side bar members 12 with bolts. Each mounting portion 22 is provided with two holes 22 a for fastening bolts to the dash panel 1, and is coupled to the dash panel 1 by the mounting portion 22.

<Behavior of strut tower bar 10>
Next, the behavior of the strut tower bar 10 when an excessive load is input to the vehicle in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle due to a frontal collision of the vehicle or the like will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic views (side view) of the strut tower bar 10. As shown in FIG. 3A, the side bar member 12 is bent at the bent portion 121, and the portion 123 is inclined downward in the front of the vehicle in a side view. The bent portion 121 constitutes a fragile portion whose strength against the input of a load in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is weaker than other portions.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 3B, when an excessive load in the vehicle front-rear direction is input due to a frontal collision of the vehicle, the portions 122 and 123 are bent around the bent portion 121, and the sidebar member 12 is bent. Is bent as a whole as indicated by a solid line from a broken line. It breaks depending on the input load. For this reason, the situation which especially the part 122 of the sidebar member 12 moves to the axial direction, and breaks through the dash panel 1 can be prevented. Therefore, the strut tower bar 10 can be prevented from entering the cabin. Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1A, the portion 123 and the portion 122 are configured to form an angle at the bent portion 121 even in a plan view. Is bent even in plan view, further preventing the intrusion of the strut tower bar 10 into the passenger compartment.

  In this embodiment, the weak part is formed in the side bar member 12 by providing the bent part 121. However, the weak part can be formed by forming a bead, a notch, or a small hole. However, it is simplest to bend the sidebar member 12 to form the weakened portion.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 1B, in this embodiment, the angle formed by the portion 123 from the strut tower 6 to the bent portion 121 of the side bar member 10 with the vehicle longitudinal direction in a side view is the bent portion 121. To the dash panel 1 is configured to be larger than the angle formed by the vehicle longitudinal direction in a side view. In FIG. 1B, the line L1 indicates the longitudinal direction (axial direction) of the portion 123, and the line L2 indicates the longitudinal direction (axial direction) of the portion 122. According to this configuration, the ratio of the load in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle as the axial force is smaller in the portion 123 than in the portion 122. Therefore, it is possible to promote stress concentration on the bent portion 121, which is a fragile portion, and the bent portion 121 becomes more fragile. In addition, although not employ | adopted in this embodiment, you may employ | adopt the structure where the angle which the part 123 makes with the vehicle front-back direction in planar view is larger than the angle which the part 122 makes with the vehicle front-back direction by planar view.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, the crossbar member 11 employ | adopts the structure which connects between the bending parts 121a-121b which are weak parts. For this reason, the stress concentration on the bent portion 121a, which is a fragile portion, can be further promoted, and the sidebar member 12 can be bent and broken at an early stage when an excessive load is input. In the present embodiment, the crossbar member 11 is disposed closer to the vehicle compartment side (dash panel 1 side) than the strut tower 6.

  For this reason, as indicated by reference numeral 7 in FIG. 1, it is possible to secure a space for arranging the in-vehicle auxiliary equipment such as a battery in the inner portion (inner side in the vehicle width direction) of the strut tower 6. A bulky in-vehicle accessory that protrudes upward can be disposed adjacent to the crossbar member 11. When such a bulky in-vehicle accessory is provided, if the crossbar member 11 is to be provided on a line connecting the strut towers 6, the crossbar member 11 needs to be gate-shaped in a front view. The member 11 protrudes upward. As a result, a sufficient gap between the bonnet and the crossbar member 11 necessary for protecting the pedestrian during a pedestrian accident cannot be secured, and the degree of freedom of the hood is significantly impaired. Further, the crossbar member 11 becomes an obstacle during maintenance of the in-vehicle auxiliary machine.

  In the present embodiment, by arranging the crossbar member 11 closer to the passenger compartment side than the strut tower 6, a bulky in-vehicle auxiliary machine is provided inside the strut tower 6 without causing such a problem. Can do.

<Function of the reinforcing member 20>
In the present embodiment, the reinforcing member 20 connects the end portions of the pair of sidebar members 12a and 12b on the dash panel 1 side, and the crossbar member 11 is closer to the vehicle compartment side (dash panel 1 side) than the strut tower 6. Are disposed so as to connect the pair of sidebar members 12a, 12b.

  For this reason, as shown in the schematic diagram (plan view) of FIG. 3C, the tower-side portion 123 of the sidebar member 12 extending from the end portion on the strut tower 6 side to the connecting portion with the crossbar member 12. A closed frame (shown by hatching in FIG. 3C) is formed by the pair of side bar members 12, the reinforcing member 20, and the cross bar member 11. For this reason, the tower-side portion 123 becomes relatively weaker than the frame body portion, and when an excessive load is input in the vehicle front-rear direction, the side bar member 12 bends or breaks at the tower-side portion 123, and the side A situation where the bar member 12 breaks through the dash panel 1 can be prevented.

  Such a function related to the reinforcing member 20 is exhibited even if the side bar member 12 is not provided with the fragile portion (the bent portion 121) described above. However, by using both in combination as in the present embodiment, the function is further improved. Bending and breaking of the sidebar member 12 when an excessive load is input can be promoted, and in particular, if there is a fragile portion (bent portion 121) at the boundary between the frame body portion and the portion 123 as in this embodiment, it is more effective. It will be something.

(A) is a top view of the vehicle body structure A of the vehicle which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, (b) is principal part sectional drawing in alignment with line XX of Fig.1 (a). 3 is an exploded perspective view of the strut tower bar 10 and the reinforcing member 20. FIG. (A) And (b) is a schematic diagram (side view) which shows the behavior of the strut tower bar 10, (c) is a schematic diagram (plan view) of the strut tower bar 10 and the reinforcement member 20. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

A Body structure 1 Dash panel (panel member)
6 Strut tower 7 In-vehicle auxiliary machine 10 Strut tower bar 11 Cross bar member 12a, 12b Side bar member 20 Reinforcing member 121a, 121b Bent part (fragile part)

Claims (6)

Left and right strut towers, to which each upper part of each suspension device for respectively suspending left and right wheels is fixed;
A panel member extending in the vehicle width direction on the vehicle compartment side of the strut tower;
A strut tower bar that connects the left and right strut towers and connects the left and right strut towers and the panel member;
In the vehicle body structure with
The strut tower bar is
A crossbar member extending in the vehicle width direction;
A pair of side bar members each extending from the left and right strut towers to the panel member,
The sidebar member is
The weak part where the strength against the input of load in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is weaker than other parts ,
A front portion that extends obliquely outward in the vehicle width direction from the fragile portion to the front in the vehicle longitudinal direction, and is connected to the strut tower;
A rear portion connected to the panel member, extending from the fragile portion to the vehicle longitudinal direction inward in the vehicle longitudinal direction and extending inward in the vehicle width direction,
A vehicle body structure for a vehicle , wherein the crossbar member is disposed closer to the passenger compartment side than the strut tower and connects the weak portions .   The vehicle body structure according to claim 1, wherein the fragile portion is a bent portion formed by bending the sidebar member. The angle formed by the front portion of the side bar member in the vehicle front-rear direction in a plan view or a side view is larger than the angle formed by the rear portion in the vehicle front-rear direction in a plan view or a side view. Item 3. A vehicle body structure according to Item 2. Connecting the respective ends of the panel member side of said side bars of a pair, according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a reinforcing member coupled to the panel member Vehicle body structure. The vehicle body structure according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein an in-vehicle auxiliary machine is disposed adjacent to the crossbar member on the inner side in the vehicle width direction of the strut tower. The vehicle body structure according to claim 2, wherein a bracket for connecting the crossbar member, the front portion, and the rear portion is provided in the fragile portion.

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